The groundbreaking of two affordable housing developments, Park Terrace at Croton Heights and Grant Park at Croton Heights, located at the former site of the historic Mulford Gardens Public Housing Complex and Ashburton Avenue in Yonkers recently took place at a ceremony celebrated by the city. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The $19.1 million Park Terrace which will be a 55,644-sq-ft senior rental facility will feature 49 one-bedroom apartments that will be available to seniors earning an income no higher than 50% of the area median income. Park Terrace is expected to achieve a LEED Silver status by implementing

Construction on the first phase of City Point, a mixed-use project in Downtown Brooklyn has begun in large part to a $20 million tax exempt bond issued through the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Rendering courtesy of Cook + Fox Architects The first phase of the $24 million City Point project consists of a 50,000-sq-ft, four-story, retail building. The bond will cover most of the $24 million project which will transform approximately 1.5 million sq ft of the Fulton Mall into a combination of retail and commercial space as well as affordable and market-rate housing. The first phase of

The expansion and modernization of St. Mary’s Hospital for Children in Bayside, New York, a $114 million project that is expected to create 420 construction jobs is began in September with Turner Construction Company providing pre-construction and construction management services through a $72 million contract. Anshen and Allen of Columbus, Ohio is serving as the architect. div id="articleExtrasA" div id="articleExtrasB" div id="articleExtras" The project includes a five-story, 90,000 sq ft expansion of the current 90,000-sq- ft, 97-bed hospital that provides full medical care for infants through teenage patients with life threatening illnesses and injuries and the modernization of the building

A new design for the 38,885-sq-ft Plaza at the Barclays Center that will serve as the primary entryway to the arena at Atlantic Yards has been released. The plaza will be located at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues and will include a new transit entrance with a green roof, 74% of open space for community events and 26% landscaping and seating. “The Plaza at the Barclays Center will quickly become one of Brooklyn’s great public spaces,” said Bruce Ratner, Chairman and CEO of Forest City Ratner Companies.” “It will be an iconic part of the larger Brooklyn landscape.”

Public libraries across the country are cutting employees and closing facilities, but the one that serves the borough of Queens, New York, is taking an opposite tack: It’s planning to open one of its largest branches to date, and it’s hired architect Steven Holl to design it. Image courtesy NYC Dept. of Housing, Preservation & Development In Queens, an industrial area is being transformed into the Hunters Point mixed-use district. Steven Holl has been commissioned to design a new library for the neighborhood. Photo courtesy Steven Holl Architects The city announced in July that it had chosen Holl to design

As diplomats from around the world gather this week at the United Nations headquarters in New York City for the annual General Assembly meeting, they are encountering a rare sight: scaffolding hung from buildings� exteriors. After years of intense preparation, the 17-acre U.N. campus is undergoing its first major renovation since it was erected along the East River shortly after World War Two. The sweeping renovation won�t come cheap, at $1.87 billion, with the cost to be split among all 192 member nations. But when it�s complete in 2015, the five-structure complex, whose 11-member design team included Le Corbusier, Oscar

Redevelopment of Lower Manhattan’s World Trade Center site has been beset with problems: design changes, funding problems, and political squabbling. And, there wasn’t even much to see at the site for nearly a decade, save for the tops of cranes and a few rumbling trucks, as a tall fence wrapped the perimeter. Photo � Joe Woolhead Redevelopment of Lower Manhattan�s World Trade Center site. Related Links: Downtown Moves Organized Chaos The Next Grand Central But nine years after the September 11 attacks, there finally are tangible signs of progress. A memorial and a tree-filled plaza will be completed next year,

A three-year-long federal investigation of alleged overbilling on reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan by engineer Louis Berger Group appears likely to force Derish M. Wolff, chairman of the firm’s holding company, from his job, according to court documents filed last week. Photo: Michael Goodman For ENR Wolff’s terms of departure from the company are controversial. The company is trying to resolve Wolff’s status as chairman of Berger Group Holdings, it said a statement released on August 16. “We anticipate that the matter of his employment to be resolved by the end of next week,” the company said. Contacted at his New

O&G Industries, the Torrington, Conn.-based general contractor on a Connecticut powerplant project where a fatal blast occurred in February during a natural gas venting operation, says it plans to contest penalties levied against it Aug. 5 by the U.S. Labor Dept.’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Photo: AP Wideworld Plant construction The firm was among three construction companies and 14 subcontractors that OSHA cited for numerous alleged workplace safety violations related to the Feb. 7 blast at the 620-MW Kleen Energy LLC plant in Middletown that killed six workers and injured 50 others. OSHA has proposed $16.6 million in penalties

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey authorized a $199 million project for structural steel repairs on the upper level of the George Washington Bridge. The Port Authority board is currently seeking bids for the project with work expected to begin in 2011.Natural degradation brought on by age, as well as increased truck traffic on the upper level after the 9/11 attacks has resulted in accelerated deterioration of the deck and framing components. Inspections as recent as 2009, have revealed several locations with varying degrees of corrosion and cracking, missing or loose structural steel connectors. In February 2010,